ESL/ABE/GED: Grammar: Grammar Central

http://www.longview.k12.wa.us/mmhs/wyatt/homework/grammar/gramm.html

This page contains links to both notes on grammar lessons, as well as copies of the lessons themselves. Be sure to check the answer keys for the lessons. Quite a comprehensive list for basic grammar skills.

Family Tech--Andersen's Fairy Tales website

A fun website about a select few Hans Christian Andersersen's fairy tales can be found on www.AndersenFairyTales.com. You can read a fairy tale, and then do a fun game. I read about the Emperor's New Suit, and then I did the game where you get to pick out the clothing you want the king to wear. It was cute!

Commentary: Sotir

I started using computers in the late 80's. The changes within the last 25 years or so have been amazing. Who would have thought that those original Apples would lead to a revolution that has literally changed the world. We've moved from FTP Bulletin Boards to the World Wide Web and blogs and wikis and podcasts. We survived the dreaded Y2K crash of the Millennium (OK, it never happened, but we were really scared anyway...).

So what has this done to education in general? We have moved from a society of digital immigrants to a generation of digital natives. Kids of the new Millennnia have embraced this new technical world. I was thrilled to have a transistor radio that my parents hated, and I loved being able to take my music with me wherever I go. Now we have cell phones that play music and videos, take pictures, IM our friends and read our email. Apple has made a fortune on the tiny little iPods, that get tinier all the time...check out the Nano... The demand for technology in education has become the norm, no matter what the type of institution. The National Center for Education Statistics notes:

** in 2002 the average public school had 131 institutional computers
** from 1994 to 2002 the percentage of public schools with Internet access increased from 35% to 99%

For adult education, those statistics do not always apply. But you, as the instructor, need to help your students transition into the digital world. True, our students are not always at the forefront of technology. But just as you give them the skills to speak English or use math effectively, they need to learn technology. Give them the skills they need to be better parents, or more successful employees, or to simply adapt to the world around them. Adults will never be as savvy at computers as the children, but they can build a comfort zone. I've done some quick surveys of students in the AELC. About 75% of them either have computers at home, or have access to computers (families and friends). They need to know how to use them. Give them Websites to try at home. Show them how to access the Internet. Give them the tools to create their own success.

ESL/GED: Writing Portals

from a list by Carol S. Holzberg published in Technology and Learning (www.techlearning.com) September 2005:

Web portals provide convenient one-stop gateways to special interest topics. The world of writing and publishing is no exception, and student and teacher authors of all ages and abilities can find a host of resources online.
eTeachers Portal.comOffering practical advice to educators who teach literacy, writing, and English, eTeachers Portal also provides space at Kids on the Net where children can publish their writing; read book reviews and advice from established authors; and explore stories and poems written by peers.
Google Directory: Blog PublishingLearn virtually everything there is to know about blog publishing at Google's Blog Publishers directory.
My Paradigm: Online Writing CommunityThe Paradigm Online Writing Assistant provides writing help in the form of an interactive, menu-driven, everything-you-wanted-to-know free guide to writing.
Transitions AbroadAt this portal you'll find helpful tips about travel writing from folks who write while they travel. There is also information about working, studying, and living abroad; general book publishing and marketing information; press trip resources; and sample writer's guidelines for print and digital travel magazines.
Writing-Portal.com DirectoryAt this no frills directory of nearly 3,000 sites geared toward writing and publishing, you'll find a list of resources organized alphabetically into 26 categories.

ABE/GED, ESL Gas Math

Gasoline Prices
http://www.gaspricewatch.com/new/
Get involved in scouting out cheap gasoline with this web site. Students can type their zip code and the distance you're willing to travel ("radius" - use a map and a compass to explain how the term "radius" is the same one they've learned for the distance from the center of the circle to the outside) and get a list of stations with the lowest prices in your area. If there are savings a few miles away, have the students figure out how much you'd save on a whole tank by paying, say, five cents less per gallon. Figure out how much gas you'd use to drive to the far station, and whether or not you'd actually save enough to make it worth the trip.

ABE/GED, ESL: Today's Front Pages

Today's Front Pages

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

Each day, Washington D.C's Newseum museum site brings you front pages from newspapers around the world - over 400 of them. See how the same story is covered in different places or compare news from different regions. Roll over each thumbnail to see a larger image, click on it to see one large enough to read the headlines. PDFs are available if you want to read the part of an article that's on the front page (Acrobat Reader software required). This is an interesting way to get discussions on current events in the classroom. Since there are over 400 front page resources available, students can read about it from their home town or country.

GED: Algebra

http://algebrahelp.com/ A free online Algebra study aide. Includes lessons, calculators, worksheets and resources, including:
Prime NumbersGenerate custom charts and lists of prime numbers.
Perfect Squares Chart GeneratorGenerate custom charts and lists of perfect squares.
Study TipsGeneral tips and guidelines for students of algebra.

GED Mathematics Test: Contemporary/McGraw Hill

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0809222329/
Publisher's site that enhances materials from the textbooks.

Student CenterAre you preparing to take the GED Mathematics Test? If so, this section will help you review everything you have covered in your textbook. Click on the link above, and then choose a chapter from the table of contents. You’ll find Chapter Review Quizzes, Chapter Outlines, Interactive Flashcards, Web Links, a Math Handbook, and more!
Instructor CenterAre you preparing students for the GED Mathematics Test? This section will provide you with Tips and Resources from Contemporary’s GED Instructor Resource Binder, Instructional PowerPoint Presentations, Web Links, and more!

GED: Test Practice

http://www.testprepreview.com/ged_practice.htm GED practice test sites.

Take the self assessment module quizzes below (make notes of your scores and remember which revealed significant gaps in your learning)
Access the following online resources to improve your weak areas and enhance your score on a fundamental level.
Self Improvement Directory

For students with computers at home, this is a free practice site that they can use to practice prior to taking the tests.

GED Test Taking Tips

http://www.sabes.org/resources/fieldnotes/vol13/f134little2.htm GED Test Taking Tips

One page sheet that gives practical advice prior to taking the GED test. Good handout for students.

ABE/ESL: Reading: Storybooks Online

http://www.magickeys.com/books/ The title is 'Children's Storybooks Online' but some of the stories could work with low reading level adults. Some stories are read aloud, and can be read word by word. This is another site that you need to spend some time looking at to determine its best use, but there are some real gems in here.

Nutrition Information: Low Literacy Teens and Adults

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/pubs/bibs/gen/lowlit.html
This is a quick guide to articles, books, kits, videos and Web sites that discuss nutrition education for teens and adults with limited reading skills. It also lists resources that will help you create and find easy-to-read print materials. Some English as a Second Language materials are included. However, this is not a major focus of the list.
It has an amazing list of easy to read materials. The creators of the list seriously took on the challenge of providing good information to those who probably need it the most, yet have the least ability to understand what is generally available. Quite comprehensive.

ABE/GED: This Nation: US Government and Citizenship

I liked the self grading quizzes http://www.thisnation.com/quizzes/index.html ,the FAQs about the Constitution http://www.thisnation.com/facts/constitutionfaq.html and the sectionon the American Revolution http://www.thisnation.com/facts/constitutionfaq.html which also include some photographs. The site is developed to correspond with the This Nation textbook, but there are many good tools on here as well.

ABE/GED Soical Studies, Historical Collections

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ from the Library of Congress

A library of Congress on line resource of Historical Collections for the National Digital Library. Learning page includes search help, activities and lesson ideas.

ABE/GED: Library of Congress Website

http://www.lcweb.loc.gov/ Library of Congress website. A treasure trove of information, including resources for:
Kids, Families
Librarians
Publishers
Researchers
Teachers
Braille and Audio Materials
Law Library of Congress
Library Catalogs
Poetry

A great on-line reference service from the Library of Congress for instructors! A Questions and Answers link accepts online questions that are answered by the on-line librarian. A Chat Service is available during designate times. There is an A-Z index for quick information search.

ALL Levels: Basics of Internet Navigating & Mouse Use

http://www2.gol.com/users/billp/course/contents.html This is a link from the Florida Community College at Jacksonville site. It includes everything from clicking (this is a mouse) to using links and email. The level is great for low level readers, and there are excellent illustrations and lessons for each chapter. It is written for Netscape (both PC and Mac) but most of the areas have universal applications. The mouse clicking lesson is interactive, and students can learn a lot quite quickly.

ABE/GED: Social Studies: CNN StudentNews

http://www.az-aall.org/AALL/Pages/Lessons/Support/ACAT%20Social%20Studies.htm ACAT Curriculum from pre-literacy and up. This gives standards and indicators for many social science levels, along with hot links to additional sites that can be used in class.

Summer Musings: Sotir: Vlogging

I know, you thought that since it is summer, you are safe from my threats of new technologies...well, wrong. While checking my RSS feeds (oh you do TOO know what they are, and if not, read all about it a few posts down), I came across an interesting article on blogging and videos=vlogging (of course). Vlogs feature video shorts instead of text. Too bad the name is even worse than blog, not to mention more difficult to pronounce. Sort of a very local cable access channel. If only they had this in Wayne's World.

Vlogs post things like cooking lessons and family events. Politicians are not far behind. Sen. John Edwards is receiving and responding to questions using video. Vlogs, in infant formulations, have been around for a couple of years, but are now toddling out into the mainstream. For those of you who have just become accustomed to blogs...too late...the train is leaving the station...

Vlogger numbers are still pretty small, in comparison to the size of the blogosphere, but they are catching up. The downside is that it takes longer to put together a vlog. You need to shoot the video, edit the video, upload the video...which takes a lot longer than posting to a blog. But just as uploading photos to the blog was made infinitely easier by web sites like HELLO, soon there will be similar tools for video postings. I can post a photo on the blog in less than a minute. I see the same applications for video as well, as soon as more people start using it.

Yes, this is a rapidly changing world. As one of my Luddite (non-techie) friends says...'that blog thing you always babble about...I am hearing it now from normal people too...' He deserves to be vlogged.

ESL: Vocabulary

http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Vocabulary/ Another compendium. This is a sub-page ofThe Internet TESL Journal'sTESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL Links and includes sites such as
Arabic Number to English Convertor (Requires JavaScript.)
Enter a number up to 999,999,999 and see it spelled out in English.
BBC News English - Words in the News
Read, listen and learn the English in this week's stories.
Common Errors in English (Paul Brians)
Words that native English speakers frequently find confusing.
Common Usage Problems (Vicki Jones and Ann Bertoldie)
Words that native English speakers frequently find confusing.
English for You - Visual Fruit (Donald Hennessey)
Pictures of fruit and their names in English
English for You - Visual Veggies (Donald Hennessey)
Pictures of vegetables and their names in English
Expanding your Vocabulary (La Trobe University)
Brief hints for advanced students.
Language Adventure - Picture Quiz
Easy. Click on the picture of the word you hear. (WAV files)
Megellan's Log - Pronunciation Pairs (Sentences Using Heteronyms) (Douglas Milburn)
We polish the Polish furniture every day. I did not object to the object. etc.
Nick Miller's EFL/ESL Resource Material - Street & Map Terms (Nicholas E. Miller)
A list of words with definitions.
QuiaCom - Matching Quiz - Countries and Nationalities [FRAME] (AH Syed)
Quia.com activity -Columns
specialist.hu - ESL Topics and Vocabulary [FRAME] (English Specialist)
True/false and multiple choice quizzes on basic exam topics and vocabulary
Testing Vocabulary
By S. Kathleen Kitao & Kenji Kitao
The Compleat Lexical Tutor (Tom Cobb)
Test your word knowledge, Learn words at your level, Read & Listen, ...
Vocabulary - Extended Family Chart
A detailed family tree chart: paternal uncle's wife, maternal cousin, ....
Vocabulary Self-Study Quizzes (The Internet TESL Journal)
See the answers right away. Produced by teachers around the world.
Vocabulary Vulcanizer [FRAME] (Paige Jaeger)
Study 'roots' to improve vocabulary: Phobia (=Fear) claustrophobia, xenophobia
Word Safari: vocabulary expeditions (Ruth Pettis)
For native speakers and advanced students. Expand your English vocabulary while surfing the Web
WordOrigins.org's List of Words and Phrases (David Wilton)
baker's dozen, kick the bucket, left wing, Kilroy was here, ...
www.antimoon.com - Don't worry about your active vocabulary (Tomasz P. Szynalski)
Why it is normal to understand more English words than you can use
www.EnglishClub.Com - Informal Contractions (Reductions) (Josef Essberger)
Gonna, Ain't, Gimme, Gotta, Kinda, Wanna, Whatcha, ...
www.EnglishClub.Com - Interjections (Josef Essberger)
Charts with meanings and examples: Ah, Alas, Dear, Eh, ...
www.EnglishClub.Com - Say or Tell? (Josef Essberger)
How to use say and tell.
www.EnglishClub.Com - Telling the Time (Josef Essberger)
UK English: 'just gone three o'clock'; Others: 'a quarter past three' etc.
www.forumeducation.net - Building vocabulary: Word formation (Sven Cederberg)
300+ word formation exercises
www.forumeducation.net - Diagnostic Vocabulary Test (Sven Cederberg)
Example of random generated test from huge database
www.GoogleFight.com - Compare Word & Phrase Use on the Web (Create Your Own Vocabulary Study)
The love of money is the root of all evil. VS Money is the root of all evil.
www.LearnEnglish.de - Buildings
See pictures of vocabulary, a dialogue, crossword puzzles, dictation/spelling, .
www.LearnEnglish.de - Rooms
See pictures of vocabulary, a dialogue, crossword puzzle and jumbled words

I like to see specific categories of words (buildings, rooms, time, fruits and vegetables), and also idioms and informal contractions, which always confound students. There are a few that have online quizzes and pictures to help students understand better. Students who learned English the British way can find translations into American English, and even specific tools such as the Arabic Number to English convertor have a real value for students. Some of the sites are better than others, so if you find one particularly useful (or not at all useful), share it with your fellow bloggers.

General Information: Sotir: Super Searching

I know this may come as a surprise to many of you, but I spend a lot of time on the Internet. For legitimate reasons of course, but I thought some of my shortcuts for getting into sites might be helpful tools for others as well. For example...did you know that when you look at the address box on Explorer, there is a small 'e' icon in front of the address? (Netscape users will have an icon that looks like a bookmark.) If you click and drag that box into another document, such as a blog post, you don't have to spend the energy copying and pasting the address. Yes, this is a minor aid, but when you post as many Websites as I do, every little bit helps.

Many of you already use your 'Favorites' button to save sites. Try creating folders for like Favorites. This will help you organize your list and use it more effectively. You can also rename the title of the site to one that fits a category first. Simply right-click on the bookmark and choose 'rename' from the options. You can save an entire page, not just a link, if you use 'Add Favorites' and choose the box that says "Make Available Offline". Even if you are not connected, you can still view a page of interest, or if the page disappears, you still have the information it contained.

Portals (see other articles with the term RSS in them) are Websites that pre-select and organize links to other information on other sites. You choose the information you want and let the portals search the Web for those sites for you. If you wanted to (and why wouldn't you?) you could set up a portal to keep up on the new posts to this blog. You need to have sites with RSS addresses The RSS address for this blog, for example, is
http://wccniuesl.blogspot.com/atom.xml '. Add this /atom.xml address to a portal, and you will be automatically notified when the blog posts new articles, as well as other posts to similar topics. I have a portal entitled 'educational technology' and get a list of new sites that might pique my interest daily. The portals also tell you if nothing new has posted to the site in whatever timeframe you wish. I have mine set for 3 days. If a new post comes on, the title and when it was posted appear on my portal list. I like having technology do my work for me.

One of the other tools I like is the 'Advanced Search' option. Often I get requests for very specific kinds of Websites. I could put in just a regular Boolean search (using AND, BUT or even OR), but sometimes I want more specific information. Since a lot of information on the Web stays on in perpetuity, some of it goes out of date. If I want information that appears on the new GED test, for example, I can ask for sites published more recently. Sometimes I do searches for information on wider topics like 'blogs'. If I want general information,just typing in 'blogs' might be enough. However, blogs have really come into their own in the past two or three years, and the newer posts are more relevant to what I am looking to find. Use the tools to find more relevant data, or at least lessen the amount of data offered. I don't know about you, but 5,279, 345 hits is more information than I care to peruse.

Any other hints for making technology work for you? Post them...right here.